Help! Sold a Phone on eBay and customer having issues with sprint activation.

So I got an iPhone 5C white 16gb sprint device from work and sold it on eBay. The person who purchased the phone is running into issues with sprint giving him flack saying they need the account holder name or phone number that was associated (I completely wiped the device and reset network settings so it does not show the original number ) I don't have an easy accessible way to locate the original account holder's name or phone number.

First not a hardware issue. iCloud / Find my iPhone was turned off. ESN/ MEID is clean. The phone has no hardware issues. Second this could in any other world be an android issue. Its not iPhone specific. I find it hard to comprehend why sprint wont allow him to attach the phone to one of his lines, considering I have Swappa verification that its not blocked from the sprint network due to non payment or stolen etc. Swappa says its great, I put the MEID into Swappa myself Why is sprint asking him for the original account holder name / number when Swappa can verify without that. Swappa is not sprint. That's why this bothers me. Its also a shock because this would have been a problem on many occasions on the second hand market and there has to have been people out there online who have gone though this mess and have gotten their second hand ebay / craigslist / wherever clean ESN devices activated.

Should he walk back into sprint with another phone and do Swappa verification right in front of them? I can understand this is a situation where sprint employees are not making a commission because they are not selling him a phone and could be acting difficult because of that, but at the end of the day they are still paid an hourly wage + commission on sales so they should be willing to assist him if its not to busy.

So I got an iPhone 5C white 16gb sprint device from work and sold it on eBay.

You need to clarify that statement. Did you win the device in a contest at work? Did you find the device at work? Did you steal it from your workplace? Does the device belong to your employer/company?

The person who purchased the phone is running into issues with sprint giving him flack saying they need the account holder name or phone number that was associated (I completely wiped the device and reset network settings so it does not show the original number ) I ....

If the phone belongs to someone else or your employer/company, AND that's probably the reason for the inquiries from Sprint.

When Sprint issues a device they sometimes "phantom" activate it. That means that to other systems it shows as clean but in Sprint's system it is attached to a line waiting to be activated. To get around this "ghost" activation, the phone must be activated on whatever number it is tied to and then deactivated. That will truly free the phone.

This is done to prevent a phone from being stolen during delivery. Basically if you order a phone online and it gets delivered to your house, someone can't take it and activate it. Because it is tied to your phone number.

That could be what is happening. In which case the only way to get around it is to verify with your work if it was sold with a phone number attached.

To clarify I sell phones through Sprint, Att, Verizon. Sometimes I personally buy back phones when someone gets an upgrade. We have a buyback program for tablets, phones, video games and those systems always lowball the customer. On occasion I buy them back myself giving the guest MORE than what they see displayed on my screen (screen faces customer and myself) and I explain what I am doing and they appreciate cash vs a store credit. To be clear this was a phone a customer had used for the full two years so they fulfilled their commitment with sprint. The phone was not deactivated due to lost/stolen or delinquency in payments. It was deactivated when I sold the customer their new 6S phone and activated that new 6S device.

The system I use to activate phones is quite basic and records just the sale date and the MEID of the new sold phone, believe me I would rather be using the official sprint software. I don't have a name or number from my computer, but I believe if I needed to I could get it, It would just take a bit of time and some effort, to go up the ladder. I am willing to make effort to try and get this eBay guy the information he needs, but was hoping someone else has gone though this process and had a quicker work around as I hate for the guy to have to wait on me after he bought the phone on eBay.

To clarify I sell phones through Sprint, Att, Verizon. Sometimes I personally buy back phones when someone gets an upgrade. We have a buyback program for tablets, phones, video games and those systems always lowball the customer. On occasion I buy them back myself giving the guest MORE than what they see displayed on my screen (screen faces customer and myself) and I explain what I am doing and they appreciate cash vs a store credit. To be clear this was a phone a customer had used for the full two years so they fulfilled their commitment with sprint. The phone was not deactivated due to lost/stolen or delinquency in payments. It was deactivated when I sold the customer their new 6S phone and activated that new 6S device.

The system I use to activate phones is quite basic and records just the sale date and the MEID of the new sold phone, believe me I would rather be using the official sprint software. I don't have a name or number from my computer, but I believe if I needed to I could get it, It would just take a bit of time and some effort, to go up the ladder. I am willing to make effort to try and get this eBay guy the information he needs, but was hoping someone else has gone though this process and had a quicker work around as I hate for the guy to have to wait on me after he bought the phone on eBay.